Axle-box



VC. COOK.

Car-Axle Box.

No. 49,726. I Patented Sept. 5, 1865.

We@ miie 2% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES COOK, OF WINSTED, CONNECTICUT.

AXLE-BOX.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,726, dated September 5, 1865.

To all whom t may concern:`

Be it known that I, CHARLES Uoox, of Winsted, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Axle-Boxes; and I do hereby declare that the following; is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming` part 0f this specification, in which- Figure lis an external view of my invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal central section of the same, taken in the line x Fig. l; Fig. 3, a transverse section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The metallic boxes for the wheels of vehicles are at present made of cast-iron and as soft as possible, in order to admit of the interio otl the box being bored out and polished or finished perfectly true, in order to run well on the axle and avoid unnecessary friction and consequent wear and tear. Hard boxes would be far more durable than the soft ones, it' they could be worked after bein g cast. Chilled castiron, for instance, would answer an admirable purpose; but the difficulty alluded to precludes its use.

rThe object of my invention is to obtain a box which will be hard and durable and still admit of being bored outand polished so as to run perfectly true on the axle.

To this end the invention consists in constructing the box of Wrought-iron, and, after boring;I andpolishing its interior surface perfectly true, rendering the same hard by the ordinary process of case-hardening or of steelconverting.

The box A may be constructed in various Ways; but probably as good aplan as any would be to take apiece of Wrought-iron plate of suit able thickness, bend it over a mandrel, and weld it at its edges, in order to form a tube of the requisite dimensions. The interior of the tube is then bored out and polished or finished perfectly true, which may be readily done in consequence of the material being' Wroughtiron. The exterior of the tube does not require any material finish. It is, of course, provided with the ordinary anges, (t a, in order to prevent it from turningin the hub, and the exterior of a number of boxes of a given size should be of a uniform diameter. After the box is thus constructed and its interior surface, b, bored out and polished or finished perfectly true, I case-harden the box by any of the modern modes, patented or otherwise; or I convert its interior surface into steel by the well-known process termed steel-converting]7 the box being placed in an iron retort. with bone-dust and other substances, and subjected to high heat a certain period of time. Thus by this means I obtain a hard and durable box and one which will have a perfectly true and polished interior surface.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- As an improved article of manufacture, a box for the axles of vehicles, constructed of wrought-iron, with a true or finished interior surface, and hardened by the usual case-hardening or steel-converting processes, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES COOK.

Witnesses:

OSCAR F. PERKINS, MILAN H. MEAD. 

